Joss Whedon on ‘Age of Ultron’: “The Avengers Must Die”

‘Avengers 2’ graced the cover of Empire Magazine this month, and while there are two covers featuring new looks at Ultron and the team’s new lineup, it’s something on the inside of this issue that caught our attention. Director Joss Whedon spoke to Empire and dropped this bomb: “I’ve come to the conclusion that Ultron is right. The Avengers need to die.”

It wasn’t long ago that we published our ‘Avengers 2’ Death Watch, putting odds on which Marvel character wouldn’t survive the events of ‘Age of Ultron’. A few people wondered, “Why are you assuming anyone is going to die?” Well, in addition to our time spent with Whedon on set, it’s quotes like this one:

I’ve been working on a lot of Ultron scenes, so I’m very anti-Avengers right now. You can’t write someone if you don’t love them and I’ve come to the conclusion that Ultron is right. The Avengers need to die.

Gulp.

Now, obviously Whedon isn’t going to kill off Iron Man and Captain America—they’ve got their own movie coming out next year—but it certainly looks like “The Avengers”, the superhero team as we know them, is dying. The superhero team will be broken and beaten by the time the ‘Avengers 2’ credits roll, which will lead to some very important events over the next few Marvel movies.

Obviously Tony Stark and Steve Rogers find themselves at odds considering ‘Captain America: Civil War’ will be all about them kicking the crap out of each other. Hulk seems increasingly unstable, and let’s just say we’re worried about the fates of both Thor and Hawkeye. That will very likely include a whole new Avengers lineup the next time we see the team on the big screen. Expect less Captain America, Thor, Iron Man and Hulk, and more Doctor Strange, Black Panther, Vision and friends (and, if we’re lucky, Spider-Man).

It’s a smart plan by Marvel. They obviously want to milk the ‘Avengers’ franchise for all its worth over the next three years, but they also don’t want to creatively compromise Phase 3. Yes, ‘The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 1’ made a lot of money, but most felt it was just killing time for the real finale. The “Death of the Avengers” could bring some serious weight to the last few Marvel films, so that when the ‘Avengers’ are reborn in ‘Avengers: Infinity War, Part 2’ it will feel like a fully earned moment (and a good place to stop this era of the Marvel Cinematic Universe).

Below, we’ve included the two new ‘Avengers’ covers from Empire. If you can get your hands on a copy, there are also a few new images from the film on the inside.